On April 7, the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first game in Major League Baseball.
In honour of that, Sportsnet launched a tool allowing you to choose your top 40 Blue Jays of all time.
But we also made a list of our own with the help of 22 MLB and Blue Jays insiders. Today, we started revealing that list. Numbers 40 through 31 were announced by Jamie Campbell on Blue Jays Central, and you can find them below. The next 10 all-time Jays will follow on Saturday, and the top 20 will be unveiled Sunday with a one-hour special, 40 in 40: Greatest Blue Jays, immediately following the team’s game versus the Minnesota Twins on Sportsnet.
Without further ado, here are the first 10 names on our top 40:
Years of service: 2004–2009
Blue Jays stat line: 451 R, 875 H, 81 HR, 112 SB, .786 OPS
Awards and achievements: Two-time all-star (2006 and 2007)
Years of service: 1982–1992
Blue Jays stat line: 382 R, 843 H, 73 HR, 12 SB, .760 OPS
Awards and achievements: World Series champion (1992)
Years of service: 2015–present
Blue Jays stat line: 184 R, 272 H, 55 HR, 7 SB, .754 OPS
Awards and achievements: All-star (2015)
Years of service: 1979–1984, 1992–1993
Blue Jays stat line: 382 R, 844 H, 13 HR, 79 SB, .607 OPS
Awards and achievements: Rookie of the Year (1979), all-star (1984), two-time World Series champion
Years of service: 1993–1994
Blue Jays stat line: 48 G, 19-16, 5.09 ERA, 207 SO
Awards and achievements: ALCS MVP (1993), World Series champion (1993)
Years of service: 1995–2003, 2008
Blue Jays stat line: 595 R, 1,082 H, 74 HR, 166 SB, .805 OPS
Awards and achievements: Tied for franchise high in single-game runs (5), doubles (4), triples (2) and extra-base hits (5)
Years of service: 1992, 1995
Blue Jays stat line: 25 G, 13-9, 3.14 ERA, 149 SO
Awards and achievements: World Series champion (1992)
Years of service: 1980–1986
Blue Jays stat line: 453 R, 1,028 H, 32 HR, 194 SB, .690 OPS
Awards and achievements: Two-time all-star (1984 and 1985), Silver Slugger (1982)
Years of service: 1978–1987
Blue Jays stat line: 538 R, 982 H, 112 HR, 76 SB, .762 OPS
Awards and achievements: Top 10 in franchise history in at-bats, plate appearances, runs, hits, triples, walks and intentional walks
Years of service: 1977–1989
Blue Jays stat line: 424 R, 888 H, 131 HR, 22 SB, .747 OPS
Awards and achievements: All-star (1985)
This list was created around the April 7 anniversary, and it combines the rankings of 22 MLB and Blue Jays insiders, including: Kevin Barker; Jeff Blair; Stephen Brunt; Jamie Campbell; Tommy Craig; Shi Davidi; Jerry Howarth; William Humber; Jonah Keri; Arash Madani; Hazel Mae; Buck Martinez; Larry Millson; Ben Nicholson-Smith; Dave Perkins; Dan Shulman; Joe Siddall; Pat Tabler; Tom Valcke; Mike Wilner; and Arden Zwelling.
Is our panel’s amalgamated list on the right track? Let us know in the comments or check out the ranking tool to create and share a list of your own.
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